Feature Story

English Bulldog Spreads Message About Gorman Bros.

Westbank, B.C.—A precocious black-and-white English Bulldog with a pronounced underbite is capturing attention for Gorman Bros. Lumber Ltd., a 55-year-old company that’s best known in the industry for its production of 1-inch Spruce and Lodgepole boards.

The Bulldog, which appears in a series of the firm’s advertisements within this publication, is the product of Bill Reedy’s imagination. Reedy, president of Gorman Bros., conceptualized the original cartoon strips, and Laurie Carr, whose husband Andy is a key salesman at the company, has inked the characters.

Laurie Carr creates cartoon characters for Gorman Bros. in the studio of the home she shares with her husband, Andy, a salesman at Gorman.

“Bill contacted me about the possibility of creating a cartoon strip for the company, and I jumped at the opportunity,” Laurie said.

An accomplished artist, she maintains a studio in her home where she creates landscape scenes and portraits in oil, acrylics and watercolors. Developing a cartoon strip in her studio is a new experience for her.

“I spend about four to five hours creating the art for each cartoon strip, so it does require a considerable amount of time in order to capture each concept,” Laurie said.

She added that the good rapport she shares with Reedy has enabled the creative process to progress smoothly.

“Reedy thinks outside the box, and I paint outside the lines,” she laughed, “so collaboration on the cartoon strips has occurred very easily and naturally. I’ve had a lot of fun with the cartoons and look forward to creating as many as Gorman Bros. wants to use.”

When she’s not drawing and painting in her studio, Laurie is a 911 dispatcher for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. She and Andy are parents to seven children, “however only two are still at home. We’ve gotten all of them grown but the last two,” she quipped.

A 26-year resident of Kelowna, B.C., Laurie began taking art classes in high school, and has continued doing so as an adult while honing her natural talent. She has sold several paintings through the years.

For now, though, she is concentrating on the evolution of Gorman’s black-and-white Bulldog, who likes to hike and, most recently, even scored a touchdown as a wide receiver.

“The characters in the cartoon strips are a lot of fun,” Laurie said. “Each strip tells a story about this little dog, who always finds a way to accomplish his goal. He represents Gorman Bros. very well.”